This invention relates to fish lures, it being a general object of this invention to provide a fish lure that simulates benthic luminescent fish, or deep sea and/or bottom fish. It is known that bioluminescence exists among a wide variety of fish, squid, shrimp and some invertabrates. The natural luminescence in sea life is the product of photophores, or light organs, emitting light from the interior of the animal and/or from the exterior thereof. That is, there are indirectly lighted areas of the animal, and there are luminescent spots; all of which may be scattered or in rows anteriorly, posteriorly, or laterally, and occuring in various colors such as yellow, red and green. For the most part the light spots are minute, and light emission is in some instances through a lens and in other instances is through filiform bodies such as occur in the projecting fin structures of the animal; especially ocurring in small fish. With the present invention, various known forms of fish and other sea life are simulated, but not necessarily in an exact representation, since pseudo-form creatures can sometimes be more acceptable as a lure.
It is an object of this invention to advantageously employ fiber optics in the simulation of benthic sea life, shown and described herein as a fish lure. With the present invention light is distributed through optical fibers to various parts of the lure, to emanate therefrom. The areas and points of light emission can vary as required, in order to simulate any certain species of sea life or fish, or to present a pseudo-form of sea life or fish. In this respect, and as hereinabove set forth, for example, a fish may have a coextensive scatter of luminescence, or its luminescence may be in rows of spots or from filiform bodies; anteriorly, posteriorly or laterally.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an electrical light source for a fish lure subject to submersion at great depths. With the present invention the electrical light source is encapsulated so as to be unaffected by the extreme water pressure that it is subjected to.
It is another object of this invention to provide means by which the electrical light source can be activated and deactivated without destroying the aforesaid encapsulation of said light source. With this invention the lure body which encapsulates the electrical light source is of a depressible material, there being a switch operable by depressing opposite portions of the lure body.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a low amperage electrical light source that concentrates light into a bundle of optical fibers, for distribution throughout the lure as may be required. With this invention the power source is a battery and the light source is a light emitting diode that condenses light into the optic fibers.
Finally, it is an object of this invention to correlate the foregoing objectives and their structures in a unit or component module that can be encapsulated in any one of a variety of lure configurations wherein the optical fibers are distributed and terminated as circumstances require.